Watch Over You
by Shenaniganary
Summary: Short  Two-Part drabble. Loki doesn't care what others think. Thor can't understand why they think what they do.
1. That Is Just As Well

**A drabble based on an image on tumblr. Separated from the rest because it is two complimentary parts.**

**First Image: teaat2am./ post/ 11131506204/ and-it-is-just-as-well **_(remove spaces)_

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><p>They say they are different.<p>

Not to his face, no, and never where Mother can hear, but Loki is a cunning child and a quiet one. He listens to the servants and the nobles who call the great halls their home and he knows what they see and what they speak.

Loki and Thor are different.

But this is nothing new.

Thor is the sun. He is bright and shining and so very full of _life_. His presence shines and dazzles every person he meets. He is instantly adored by all, despite his bungling of social graces and his penchant for recklessness. The citizens of Asgard love their prince, their heir, with all of themselves.

There is little left for him.

He does not mind.

Loki is the dark. He is quiet and shy and does not speak rashly, nor often raise his voice at all. He is the shadow to Thor's brightness, the voice of quiet reason in the face of Thor's brash and eager heart. He is the soft one, the cunning one, the one no one truly knows, or ever truly will.

But it is just as well.

Thor needs someone to protect him, though no one else can seem fathom such a need. Thor is a child, truly a reckless, young thing with no regard to the consequences his actions can and do bring. He is quick to the fight; quick to rush into danger and put himself in harm's way, sometimes for as little as an insult to his person. He is a silly creature, though brilliant, shining as brightly as the sun. He cannot fathom his faults, cannot see his actions for the hubris that they are.

And that is just as well

Loki will take on that burden. Loki, quick and quiet and cunning Loki, will traverse these dangers for him. He will tend to his brothers mistakes; will disperse the countless conflicts his brother's actions can and surely will bring. Loki will be the shadow, the quiet one no one thinks to suspect of such things. He will protect his brother more thoroughly than anyone could think and will do so without any knowing of it. It is his duty and his privilege to protect him.

He and Thor are brothers, and that is what brothers do.

They say they are different.

And that is just as well.

No one else need know.


	2. Why Don't They Understand

**The second half of a two-part drabble. Separated from the rest because they attach to the other. Enjoy!**

**Second Image: 7ns./ post/ 11134332422/ teaat2am-and-it-is-just-as-well **_(remove spaces)_

**Combined Images: teaat2am./ post/ 11216347888/ itsachance-7ns-teaat2am-and-it-is-just **_(remove spaces)_

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><p>Loki is not like him.<p>

Thor is sure and eager; he rushes into the fray without pause or much thought. He makes mistakes, often avoidable ones, but his cause is always just and fair, and so he triumphs in the end. He is a protector, a fighter for the weak, and such knowledge of his duty presses him ever forward. He is bright and shining and _loved_ and knows only that.

Loki is quiet. Where Thor shines bright; adored and exalted by their people, Loki remains in shadow. He is soft and small and does not place himself readily in harm's way, no matter how just the cause may be. Loki's weapons are words; quiet tricks and brilliant, spiraling plans. He is astoundingly quick of mind and agile when he wishes and Thor cannot help but feel the brute; large and slow and helplessly dull as he stands by his brother's side. He is _different_ in a way Thor cannot quite fathom, but he is his _brother_ and that is all Thor needs. It is all he can dare to ask.

But he is not deaf.

There are whispers of his brother; quiet, slithering things which speak of ill and displeasure. They murmur of how strange his brother seems; how he is not like his Thor, not like Odin, and that perhaps something went wrong. He is dark and strange, and _wrong _somehow. It sets his blood to boil; a warrior's scream burrows deep in his throat. He wants to shout, to bellow; _This is my brother and he is more than you or I can ever be!_

And yet they do not see.

They whisper instead; blinding themselves in favor of quiet, slippery words which hold no true worth at all. They twist truths into falsehoods and opinions into facts. It is sickening. It is _heartbreaking_, and he must watch his brother bear it alone.

He does not understand.

His brother is sharp and quick and deadly; that is what Thor knows. Thor is broad and strong like the hammer; his foes are dealt with by force alone. Loki is the knife, quick and quiet and dead before they reach the ground. He is soft but not yielding, quiet but not silent. He is beautiful and brilliant and _knowing_. He is everything Thor will never be.

And yet all they see is darkness.

And Thor must watch his brother bear the burden of their scorn. Loki must hear their words, he _must_. He is brilliant and cunning; he would hear them even if they tried to hide and they hardly bother anymore. Thor would go to them, _explain_ just how false their words are, but Loki does not speak out to them, he does not react, and Thor cannot bear to see more harm come to his brother should his own words, clumsy and thick and hardly ever used save in jest, be brushed aside. Or worse, set them more steadfastly upon him.

It has happened before.

They do not love Loki as he does.

And so Thor will have to make them.

He will show them the worth of his brother. He will show them his brother's cunning, his brilliance, his shatteringly deep _knowledge _that he possesses and will use for _them_; for Asgard and their people. He is a good prince, he will be a good _king_, they simply must _try_ to _see_. And if they cannot, then Thor shall make will show them how Loki does not need to be like Thor, or Father, or _anyone else _to shine all on his own.

Loki is his _brother_ and though no one can love him as Thor does, they can and _will_ love him as he is all the same.

Thor will make certain of it.


End file.
